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Questions about food stamp fraud. First I have several

Questions about food stamp...

Questions about food stamp fraud. First I have several disabilities, blind, head injury, seizures and many more. I have an equal assess plan for accommodations, but a 10 year battle with DSHS for not ever following the plan. On 10/16/2017 a worker stood under oath and said I will not write and EAP and will not follow and EAP, I asked her to repeat because I thought I heard wrong. On 10/20/2018 she reported me to FRED. 1/2218 and 2/13/18 finally when case transferred got a lot of emails, 16 that were sent over the last 5 months, and were finally able to read them. I realize a mistake has been made, I had hearing for my EAP and I realized I had an even bigger problem. The case worker who would not follow an EAP plan had not entered my income into the system for more than 2 years, I reported in 7/16, 6/17 and 10/17 and the state never imputed the info. Now the case worker wants to work with me. I have not heard one word from an investigator, but when I asked the new worker admitted that there was an open report but no information was in the system and it could be closed in 4 weeks by aging out. It also could be that the old case worker never sent me an application to sign.

Lawyer's Assistant: Have you discussed the injury with a manager or HR? Or with a lawyer?

No.

Lawyer's Assistant: Are you an "at will" employee? Do you belong to a union?

What does that have to do with fraud?

Lawyer's Assistant: Anything else you want the lawyer to know before I connect you?

Yes. So I would like to cooperate and just bring them up to date with the income. Show them the letter that I emailed my income. But I already get, didn’t you realize, well yes and no, I have a head injury, I am blind and not getting letters, and I have seizures so. Do forget things. So yes I wondered why my food stamps did not stop, but until I got these letters I did not understand that they never entered my income for two years. If I cooperate with the workers will that help or hurt an investigation that may or may not be going on. I don’t want to say and give them everything and then have an investigator out, but it was not intentional so I don’t want to look like I’m not cooperating. And since there is two things going on, one the case worker, and the second a possible FRED that was reported 5 months ago. Should I talk to caseworkers but not investigators if they even are investigating.

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Customer reply replied 4 months ago

Would like an answer, but it was not giving in the 30 minutes as it said it would be?

Hello! I am a licensed attorney, admitted to practice in state and federal court. I have a nearly 100% satisfaction rating (click here for more info) so all that means is that you can count on me to help today.

I appreciate you explaining this situation, but I may need to clarify; you're wondering whether you should tell the caseworkers and not the investigators about the fact that you reported the income, but it was never recorded?

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Customer reply replied 4 months ago

No. I have a hard time explaining this. A Fred report was filed and it has been 5 months, oct 22, 2017 till now and nothing has happened, it is just sitting there open with no activity on it. I sent verification in July 2016, June 2017 and oct 2017. The case worker never entered it into the computer. I have a home care assessment from DSHS, it states I do not do my own finances, so the state knew had problems with finances, last updated 5/16 and good thru 5/17. In 9/2017 they called me to update my information, over the phone since I can not read the application. They asked did income change and I answered no, if they had entered it that would have been true but I did not know they did not enter it. As my EAP plan states they then would send me the application they filled out and I would sign it, still not able to see what I was signing and they never read it. Me, anyway this worker never sent the application. Which should have shut off my services and I then received many letters I could not read, and I asked them to read them thru email but they refused. I thought my food stamps closed out. In Jan due to another fair hearing about the care plan and never giving me any info in a format I could read, it came up and I said I worked. My care case was dropped and my case went back to regular DSHS, and the case worker saw I had income and it states I did had no change. In oct the case worker asked me to verify and I did, but she did not put it in the system. She made no calls for anything else, and she did not respond back to my emails on three occasions. In Jan the new worker did not ask for any verification. In March I had another fair hearing because at this point from nov to feb I have had 16 letters sent to me with no way to read them but a judge telling me to use my food stamps so I did use them in feb. in March at a hearing it was told that I was not reporting income, same as in Jan, in Jan I admitted to having income wages and reporting them, no other info from DSHS. In March the worker said let’s talk, let’s set up a meeting and figure this out. I am okay with that, somehow things are a mess and they feel I am lying to them. Which is not my intent but since I can not read letters and they refuse to follow EAP I don’t know what got in my chart and I have no signed application even though they have been paying me for 9 months.So my question, since the Fred report is open but just sitting there should I worry that if I answer there questions and they twist things I would make it worse. Or should I now that I know there is a problem go in and tell them like they want. Show them that I did report but probably not in a great way since my EAP plan states if they need more they will contact me, which they did not.They also think I lied about my housing. I have a MIL on property. I will say an illegal MIL apt. I use to stay in it and my disabled daughter stayed in front house. Now I live in front house and a man comes and goes from back house. Never have I not told DSHS about this. As a matter of fact I told them many many times and in 4 years there have been 12 case workers out to my house due to care assessments. Now they are stating I rent the place out, which is not true. The guy who comes and goes does so for several reasons, blind I need help with yard work, mowing, cutting trimming, leaves, sticks I could trip on and such he does all of that. He comes he stays and he leaves, I am also blind been broken into 2 times in 2 years. Had property damage two other times and had an overdosed drug addict found on my front porch at 4 am the day before thanksgiving. The guy stays there free just to help me with that. The unit which they have been in many many times, has a full kitchen and bathroom and is 15 feet away from my house. I tell them this but they think I am lying. The person who lives there tells them he pays no rent and a neighbor tells them and they still act as if I am lyin or something.So do I go in and have a face to face and clear it up. Give all evidence I have, even if there is an open Fred report. Or do I wait and see if the Fred report goes anywhere.I personally want to be open, but I know that I do not control my own finances and many workers have access to my bank accounts, that is what the states pays for. Mostly family, but they same family who has stolen from me. There could be something that a Fred investigator could find, I don’t know of anything, but I know my daughters put money in and pull money out a lot.So again do I try to clear this up and hope they believe me when I give them pay stubs, letters that I did report, and letters that no one paid me rent. Or do I wait and let an investigator find out some things like my work and see what he thinks but then it looks like I am uncooperative and that I did not work with them. They wish to meet sometime this week.

Thanks for providing this. Because there is such a long backstory to this and so many details and because you seem to be in need of some strategic suggestions, would you like a phone call? It's $60, but your satisfaction is guaranteed and after nearly 1,000 phone calls, I can assure you that it will be.

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DISCLAIMER: Answers from Experts on JustAnswer are not substitutes for the advice of an attorney. JustAnswer is a public forum and questions and responses are not private or confidential or protected by the attorney-client privilege. The Expert above is not your attorney, and the response above is not legal advice. You should not read this response to propose specific action or address specific circumstances, but only to give you a sense of general principles of law that might affect the situation you describe. Application of these general principles to particular circumstances must be done by a lawyer who has spoken with you in confidence, learned all relevant information, and explored various options. Before acting on these general principles, you should hire a lawyer licensed to practice law in the jurisdiction to which your question pertains.

The responses above are from individual Experts, not JustAnswer. The site and services are provided “as is”. To view the verified credential of an Expert, click on the “Verified” symbol in the Expert’s profile. This site is not for emergency questions which should be directed immediately by telephone or in-person to qualified professionals. Please carefully read the Terms of Service (last updated February 8, 2012).